Calderdale builder cleared of illegally dumping waste

A Calderdale builder says his livelihood was put at risk after being cleared at the Court of Appeal of illegally dumping waste.

Michael Edward Jagger, 63, of Royd Lane, Ripponden, was investigated after waste from a building site in Broad Street, Halifax, was dumped into a hole on Raglan Street in the town in September 2010.

It has cost the public an immense amount of money. I’m very angry about it.

Mr Jagger was found guilty of depositing controlled waste without a permit in April last year following an investigation by the Environment Agency.

But his conviction was quashed at the Royal Courts of Justice in London on February 19 after it was ruled the trial judge misdirected the jury about the nature of the waste involved.

Mr Jagger insists the waste was transported there to protect the public from falling into the void. He said: “It should never have gone to court.

“It has cost the public an immense amount of money. I’m very angry about it.

He said his firm employed 50 people locally and the action had put jobs at risk.

Mr Jagger, who is known as Edward, of J Jagger & Sons, is now exploring what action can be taken after the appeal verdict. “It needs taking further and I’m talking to Craig Whittaker, our local MP, about what we can do and question why I was taken to court in the first place,” he said. “Most of our work is with blue-chip companies, and if it hadn’t been overturned we would have lost a lot of work.

“We’ve already asked the Environment Agency through our solicitors why certain actions were taken. They could have taken my business away from me.”